Earlier in the year, it seemed to rain every day and our garden was a soggy mess of drowned plants. My kale washed away completely and the Swiss chard looked pathetic. But we’ve traded the rain for scorching heat and dry weather. So now the garden is baking in the sun, the ground is cracking, and the mosquitoes are out in droves.
And with summer fully here, let’s think about all the outdoor activities. There are the barbecues, the summer soft ball games, golfing, swimming, hikes in nature.
We all love doing things in the summer without the cold and rain or snow of winter. But there are dangers here, too.
Make sure you stay hydrated when you’re outdoors. It’s easy to get busy and forget to drink. But over heating is a dangerous thing. I find it most difficult when swimming. Since you’re already wet, you don’t notice that you’re also sweating, making it a tricky combo.
Also, sunscreen is a thing. I know most of us know this, but a little reminder won’t hurt.
If you’re going out into nature, please cover up. I see people all the time walking around through the woods or meadows, up mountain trails, in shorts and sandals. Between the bugs, the rough terrain, and brush and brambles, a lightweight over shirt and lightweight pants would keep you protected. And don’t forget some decent shoes.
As for me, I’m editing another book right now, after releasing my latest shifter romance in June. If you’re a fan of paranormal romance and fantasy, check it out! Look for Old Flame at Amazon.
Better yet, go on over to my author blogs and see what’s happening in my writing world!
About two years ago, I had cataract surgery on both eyes. While they weren’t able to get my near vision back to 20/20, they were able to manage 20/30, which meant I should still wear corrective lenses for near vision.
But I also need lenses for distance vision, so they suggested progressive lenses.
And I hated them.
Now, let me explain. They were great for driving, watching TV (especially since I like to watch old programs while I knit) and around the house. They were great for grocery shopping, so I could see the signs up overhead and read labels.
They were not so good for walking through the parking lot or taking my nature walks through the woods or down our dirt and gravel road.
Why?
Let me explain.
When you walk and need to look down to watch where you’re stepping, you need to use distance lenses. But the way the lenses are made puts the distance bit is at the top of the lenses. So you wind up looking down toward your feet with the near vision part of the lenses, which does no good whatsoever. It puts everything out of focus.
I couldn’t tell how high curbs in front of the store were, or see dips and rises in the road ahead when walking. I don’t know how many times I tripped because I couldn’t actually see where I was going. I finally started tipping my glasses up and looking with just my eyes. They weren’t quite as clear as they would have been with distance glasses, but they were a lot better than with the near vision portion of the progressives.
What I wound up doing was getting a pair of single vision glasses for distance. They took a little getting used to, but I seldom trip over bumps in the road. I still don’t quite trust them when stepping over curbs.
I thought it was just me, but according to an article in the latest AARPBulletin (October 2024), The Hidden Dangers of Progressive Lenses, I’m not alone. Studies have shown that people over age 65 with multi-focal lenses are up to three times more likely to suffer falls. The stronger the near vision part of the prescription, the greater the risk.
Is it a bit of a hassle to carry a second pair of glasses and switch? Yes. But I would rather have the inconvenience than a fall that put me in the hospital.
Do I like the progressives?
I do–for driving and shopping. For driving, I can see both the road ahead and the information on the dashboard. For walking? Not at all.
So if you’re getting a new prescription and considering progressives, give it some thought. See if the provider has a program for a discount on a second pair of glasses. Or just spring for a second pair for walking.
Take care of your eyes, but don’t forget to take care of the rest of you, too.
Sometimes the storm isn’t the worst thing to happen, in a way. It’s the aftermath. The clean-up. The hopeless, overwhelming feeling of “where do we even begin?” The helplessness of losing everything is traumatic, to say the very least.
Even if your home is mostly undamaged, the trees and power lines down, roads unmanageable, and water lines cut will take much longer to put right. Life won’t even begin to get back to normal for a long, long time.
Now, over in North Carolina, some parts of South Carolina, and Tennessee, folks are stunned by the devastation in the wake of Helene. Some smaller towns are completely gone, and with them, all the memories attached to homes, keepsakes, and personal treasures those people held dear.
But not all of the damage is physical.
The mental and emotional trauma in losing everything and having to start over is a painful burden which will be carried for years and leave scars for a lifetime.
Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. They need help and will for months to come.
It seems everyone is watching their diet these days, some of us more than others due to health concerns. Since I’m a Type 2 diabetic, I’m careful to watch for hidden sugar.
But it can be tricky. The stuff turns up everywhere! I’m not talking about places you would normally expect, like desserts, but places a lot of us don’t think about.
Here are some of the ones I’ve found.
Condiments, such as ketchup, salsa, and relishes tend to have sugar. I may have found one salad dressing without sugar in it, but I usually make my own vinaigrette at home. If I’m eating out, I get the oil and vinegar to add to my salad. Even dressings I wouldn’t expect to have sugar, such as bleu cheese, can surprise you. I have found one or two brands of ketchup without sugar, but they tend to be expensive. Salsa can go either way. Just check the label before you buy.
Summer is a great time for Barbecues! But beware the sauce! While sugar of some sort helps moderate and balance the tang of the vinegar, it does horrible things for my blood glucose. I found a recipe I could modify to make my own. Experiment a little!
Particularly watch out for sauces and seasonings in the Oriental Foods aisle. All those lovely things tend to have sugar in them, even some of the chili sauces and pastes.
Seasoning Blends are another gotcha if you’re avoiding sugar. That season salt my husband loves is loaded with sugar. Garlic pepper, most rubs, and seasonings for steak and seafood can all have a hidden sugar. Most of the spice blends at the grocery store contain at least some sugar. And if you’re diabetic, starches can be a problem also and are added to help the blend flow well. Maybe a shake or two of season salt wouldn’t matter, but I prefer not to take the risk.
One I recently discovered is dry roasted peanuts. The local grocery store where I do most of my shopping has a store brand of dry roasted peanuts. The salted and lightly salted versions both contain sugar of some sort. The unsalted are just peanuts. Other stores can differ, so watch the labels.
Stewed Tomatoes were a surprise for me. The whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and petite diced are fine. But all the stewed tomatoes I’ve checked contain sugar. So does tomato soup, as do several other types of prepared soup at the grocery.
Also watch out for canned peas and carrots. Why anyone would sweeten canned carrots is beyond me, but then again, no one asked my opinion on the matter. Kidney beans are one more item to watch. A few companies don’t use sugar, but most do. I don’t know why kidney beans in particular, since most of the other beans are fine.
Of course, all manner of chili beans and baked beans have sugar, but you kind of expect that. I have found one or two brands of chili beans which are sugar free, but you really have to search.
Hope this helps you out a bit. These were just some of the things I would never have thought to look at. It pays to check all your labels when you’re shopping.
Have trouble reading all that fine print? Grab your mobile phone and snap a picture of it, and then enlarge it so you can find out exactly what is in your food.
Where has the year gone? Around here, both my husband and I have had surgery, so I know that took a bit of a toll on our time. But the year is nearly half gone…
But something for you now.
I love nuts and seeds of all kinds. And instead of buying canned beans–of the dried variety–I like to cook my own sometimes and experiment with different kinds. And who doesn’t love healthy snacks?
One place I have been shopping at online for several years now is Nuts. They have a wide variety of nuts, seeds, nut flours, and grains, not to mention their variety of snacks.
If you’re a coffee or tea drinker, you could also check out their selection. There are several I love, including black currant flavored tea.
Where can you find this company? Nuts.com! If you like what you find and decide to order, you’ll get $20 off on your first order. Yes, I will get a little from the deal as well, but if you’d like to check it out without the referral, just type in nuts.com. It’ll take you right to their home page where you can shop to your hearts content.
Anyway, that’s enough from me for now. Enjoy the nice weather we’re having.
If you are, come with me to a Japanese spa, or maybe a hot spring. Feel that wonderful mineral water as you soak and relax, letting your cares drift away.
All right, I know. You’re like me and can’f afford the journey.
But you can help set the mood in your own bath with a new candle from Mythologie Candles. Inspired by Fantasy, their candles offer unique scents reminiscent of myths and legends. The new Onsen Bundle captures the feeling of the Japanese spa.
Not sure what you’re in the mood for? Just go on over and shop! Since I’ve discovered these candles, they have become my favorite scents. I particularly like the Camelot candles, The Blacksmith, and Dwarven Forge. But I’m dying to try the Onsen candles.
Go on over and, once you’ve experienced them, drop me a comment and share your favorite!
In the meantime, don’t forget self-care is not an option. It is a necessity. Do something good for yourself.
Now go out and spread a little sunshine with your smile.
Earlier last year, I managed to pull the muscles and tendons in my foot and calf. There went my nice long walks for a while. But with summer coming on, things got busy.
Then came autumn, with multiple weddings and birthdays, along with the bridal showers, and all that goes with a garden wedding.
So, things were healing up nicely until my husband and I went to lunch. As my foot hit something in the parking lot of the restaurant, my still weak right leg couldn’t recovery sufficiently to keep me from falling.
And fracturing my right patella.
Two months later, just before Christmas, my doctor finally decided everything was healed enough to resume normal activities. But in the meantime, sitting for any length of time was painful, walking wasn’t fun, and the stairs were killer.
I’ve also recently had surgery for cataracts, so my time on the computer has been shortened, since it kind of makes my eyes tired.
Turns out all that research on stress helped me out!
I know. I’m a klutz. But funny!
So this has been my world lately. But I’m recovering nicely from all of the above, doing weight training and stretching to get those muscles back in shape. And watching my diet.
I hope to be back on a more regular schedule soon, so stay tuned!
And if you like to read, head over to my author web for news on my books: melliemiller.com
Face it. Modern life is stressful. Everything moves so quickly and with instant communication constantly demanding our attention, it can be difficult to catch a break. If you try to leave your phone behind while you take a walk, or go to the gym, somebody panics because you’re out of touch.
Everywhere you go there is a TV, or music of some sort playing, and announcements at the grocery store, all demanding your attention. After a while, it feels like you’re carrying the world on your shoulders.
Many of us have families at home in the evening, and while it’s nice to have your family around you, it can add to your stress loads after a full day at work. Children need attention, and we understand this. What they can’t yet understand is our need for a few minutes of calm.
So in this day and age, how do you de-stress?
Find a time when it would be best for you to take a little time for yourself. Maybe it’s after work, before you get home to all the stresses there. Or maybe it’s after dinner, when everyone is watching TV or playing games. Whenever it is, let everyone know that this time is private time for you. Your phone will be off, not to worry.
Now, figure out what you’re going to do.
I like to take a walk out in nature, but sometimes that isn’t possible due to the weather. Seriously who wants to go walk in a downpour? And we’ve had quite a bit of that here lately. As an alternative, I might put on some music and just move to the sound.
But there is one thing that helps me find that inner peace we all seek. And I know you’ve heard it before.
Yes, meditation.
You’ll say you don’t have time. You can’t relax long enough. Your mind won’t turn off so you can get there.
As one of my martial arts instructors used to say, you didn’t sign on a black belt your first day in class. Give yourself some time.
Here is one easy way to get started. It is the short meditation we did before every martial arts class to help us shift our minds off of the troubles of the day and focus on class. Our instructor called it the Circle of Life meditation.
Sit comfortably. Anyplace is fine. If you want to sit cross-legged on the floor, do it. If you prefer a nice comfortable chair, have a seat.
Take your thumb and middle finger on each hand and form a circle. Place the backs of your hands on your knees.
Now close your eyes. Picture your thumbs and fingers making a perfect circle.
Breath in through your nose. Imagine the air travelling up over the top of your head, down your spine, and then back up the front of your body and up into your lungs.
Hold that breath for a moment, and then slowly let it out through your mouth.
Now pause and repeat the sequence for a total of three times.
The fourth breath is a cleansing breath. Breathe in deeply and blow the air back out quickly before you begin the sequence again.
Concentrating on your breath, imagining it moving around your body, and holding your fingers in a perfect circle, gives you a focus. Sure you may have random thoughts pop up, but acknowledge them, let them go, and return your concentration to your breathing.
You don’t have to keep to a timetable–thirty minutes or else. But if you have a limited amount of time, set an alarm for however long you want to meditate. Don’t try to start off for with a lengthy period of time. A few minutes to get the feel of it is fine.
Maybe you would prefer a guided meditation, something you can listen to and follow along.
One of my favorites is The Daisy Pond, one of Burt Goldman’s guided meditations. In it, he guides you into a relaxed state, and then takes you on an imaginary trip to the daisy pond.
The Daisy Pond is available for anyone to use on YouTube. You can find several of Mr. Goldman’s meditations there. Just do a search and find one you like.
Make that time for yourself. Teach your family to make quiet time for themselves as well. The world is a stressful place. We all need to learn a healthy, safe way to de-stress at the end of our day. Help them make it a habit which will help them throughout their lives.
Sometimes we just need a break. Maybe a nice walk to get in touch with the nature. I know you can’t actually slip into my world just now, but…
...come walk with me. A virtual walk if you will.
Out the front door, we close the heavy iron gate behind us. The trees arching over the sidewalk invite us forward as we begin our stroll. Turning toward the little country road, we walk in the shade of the trees, cooling us from summer’s sun.
The scent of the earth after a rain surrounds us, as a cool breeze rustles the leaves. The crunching of our footsteps along the dirt and gravel lane provide a percussive note to the birdsong from the woods alongside.
Though it’s mid-day, the shade from the trees cools us as we walk along. Reaching a branch in the path, we turn downhill toward a little stream. The shade is deeper here, and the breeze coming up off the stream is wonderfully refreshing.
Before long, we hear the splashing of the stream as it tumbles over the rocky ledge. Turning off the path, we go down to the water’s edge, feeling the refreshing mist rising from the stream.
The interplay of light and shadow here under the trees, beside the stream, along with the woodland sounds, is soothing, relaxing. It feels as if all your troubles could float away, like fallen leaves on the water.
Stop for a moment.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply of the woodland scent. The smell of moist earth warmed by the sun, mingling with the wildflowers growing along the stream teases your senses. On the breeze, you catch a hint of newly mown hay from further down the path.
Take another deep breath. Hold it in for a few seconds before you slowly exhale, releasing your cares into the vastness of the universe. Listen as the sounds of nature speak to you soul.
I could spend all afternoon here by the water, but I need to go home. So we turn away from the water, taking a last look at the ferns growing there in the shade, and wishing we had time to climb out and sit on the log bridging the stream.
I fell lighter of spirit, somehow, as if a weight has been lifted. Back up the path to the turn, and then up the road toward the drive, we look out across a meadow filled with tiny yellow flowers.
Back to the sidewalk, we slip under the living arch, stroke the cat who is waiting there for us, and open the heavy gate back into the house.
I feel refreshed and ready to face the rest of the day now. I know, it’s time to say goodbye. But thanks for coming with me. I had a wonderful time.
I am not a doctor or any kind of medical professional, so do not take this as medical advice of any kind. As always, check things out for yourself or ask someone who is a professional before making any drastic changes in your diet.
How much sugar do you eat in a day? Sugar on your cereal, in your coffee, and in the yogourt you’re eating. You know, the kind with the fruit in the bottom. Maybe you have a quick snack during the afternoon as a pick-me-up, like an energy bar or candy bar. Of course, there’s the cappuccino on the way home and some sort of dessert or snack before bedtime.
Maybe you’re thinking, “I don’t do any of those things. I’m fine.”
But are you?
How much sugar is there in the other foods you eat?
I’m not talking about natural sugars in the raw food itself, like the fructose in an apple or banana. I’m talking about processed sugars added to your food, sometimes in places you would never suspect.
If you’ve done any label checking at all, you will know bread of most kinds has sugar in it, not to mention quickly converted refined flour. And of course there is brown sugar, honey, dextrose, sucrose, and all those other -oses.
Why did I begin thinking about this?
A couple years ago, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. My doctor put me on what I thought was a radical diet until my blood sugar normalized. For the first year and a half, I went completely vegetarian, eating mostly fresh, raw foods. During the colder weather, though, I wanted something warm, some sort of comfort food. Vegetable soups of various styles came to mind. Surely those would be fine. Right?
Think again.
What I found out, and what you may not realize, is that several types of canned vegetables contain added sugars. Like kidney beans. I’ve found only one or two brands of kidney beans which don’t have sugar in them.
How about peas and carrots? They’re good in soup.
On their own, most of them are fine, if you can handle the starches in them. But canned together, a lot of them contain added sugar. I can’t imagine why, since both of them are sweet to begin with.
What good would soup be without tomatoes?
Reaching for the canned tomatoes, I accidentally grabbed stewed instead. But they should be fine. They’re tomatoes!
Nope. Added sugar! Again, why? None of the other types of tomatoes, from whole and diced to crushed, have sugar added. But most, if not all, the stewed tomatoes I’ve checked have sugar in them.
What good is soup without some sort of broth or stock? Now hesitant about trying anything without checking it first, I looked at the label.
You’re kidding me! Most of the chicken broth or stock has some sort of sugar in it, and I think I’ve only found one of the brands of beef stock which is sugar free.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never put sugar in the pot with either chicken or beef. Not in the oven, crock pot, stew pot, or anything else. Once in a while, I would add a little something sweet for a glaze, but not to make broth.
Like to barbecue? My husband is the grillmeister extraordinaire around our place. Try finding hot dogs or sausage without sugar in them. BBQ sauce is right out.
Just when I thought I was doing well, I checked my seasoning blends.
NO!!!!
Almost all of the seasoning salt type things have sugar in them, and a lot of the other seasoning blends as well. Garlic pepper and various types of rubs are things to check for hidden sugar.
Same thing with salad dressings, mayonnaise, ketchup, soy sauce, oriental sauces of all kinds… Even some of the hot sauces, picante, and salsa have added sugar.
So, if you make a sandwich, with bread, mayonnaise, ketchup, with a meat seasoned with seasoning salt, how much hidden sugar are you eating?
I haven’t done the math, but I was appalled by all sugar we unknowingly eat in a day.
Don’t believe me?
Check it out yourself! Next time you go to the grocery store, start reading labels. Watch not only for sugar, but for honey, molasses, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, lactose–if it ends in -ose, it’s probably a sugar of some sort.
Now if you’re diabetic, you need to watch out for starches as well, as they are easily converted into sugar in your body. In my case, I need to watch for corn starch, any kind of added flour, potato starch, tapioca, maltodextrin, or anything else normally used as a thickener. Any sort of sauce which is thick and clingy–the dreaded BBQ sauce for example–will have one of these in it.
If you’re trying to quit sugar, good luck to you. It can be done, but check, check, check your labels. Or go fresh whole foods only. Frozen food tends to be better. It will take a while to get the hang of it, and to get used to the taste of real food again.
Mellie E. Miller 